Washington transfer Nigel Williams-Goss will transfer to Gonzaga, a source confirmed to NBCSports.com. The 6-foot-3 guard is a former McDonald’s All-American and will have to sit out the 2015-16 season, per NCAA transfer rules.

Williams-Goss should give the Zags a premier guard in the WCC in a year after he averaged 15.6 points, 5.9 assists and 4.7 rebounds as a sophomore with the Huskies. As a sophomore, Williams-Goss shot 44 percent from the field, 25 percent from the 3-point line and 76 percent from the free-throw line.

Gonzaga has done well with the transfer market, as former Kentucky transfer Kyle Wiltjer was a major impact for the Bulldogs this season. Williams-Goss is one of the nation’s best point guards and has a chance to make a be an all-league candidate the moment he takes the floor for Gonzaga.

Nigel Williams-Goss is transferring out of the Washington program, according to multiple reports.

Clay Dade, a figure in high school basketball’s summer circuit, says that Williams-Goss has already received his release. Doug Gottlieb of CBS Sports confirmed the report, saying that a “lack of cohesion” between Williams-Goss and the team was one of the reasons that Washington’s season imploded.

Williams-Goss averaged 15.6 points, 5.9 assists and 4.7 boards this past season and will immediately become one of the nation’s most coveted transfers. He’s a former top 50 recruit and one of the nation’s best point guards.

Friday morning the finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, annually given to the nation’s best point guard by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, were announced. Among the players on the list are two of the nation’s best freshmen, Duke’s Tyus Jones and Maryland’s Melo Trimble.

They’re the only two first-year players on the list, which includes six seniors, five juniors and four sophomores.

From a conference standpoint the Pac-12 leads the way with four finalists, with Arizona’s T.J. McConnell, Cal’s Tyrone Wallace, Utah’s Delon Wright and Washington’s Nigel Williams-Goss being the players on the list. In total nine conferences are represented. Also making the cut is BYU junior Kyle Collinsworth, who has tallied an NCAA-record five triple-doubles this season.

Below is the list of finalists for the award, which was won by UConn’s Shabazz Napier last season.

In honor of today’s NBA trade deadline, where far too many people will spend the day obsessing over where Goran Dragic, Enes Kanter and Reggie Jackson will end up, we give you college basketball’s deadline deals.

If teams at the collegiate level were allowed to swap players, what are some moves that could help turn pretenders into contenders, or contenders into favorites? Here are six trades that would fill holes on the roster of both teams:

1. North Carolina’s Isaiah Hicks for Cal’s Jordan Mathews

UNC makes this trade because: The Tar Heels have plenty of bodies up front. What they need is another player on their perimeter that can knock down jumpers. Mathews is shooting 45.0 percent from three on the season, meaning he is a guy that would allow Marcus Paige to play on the ball more.

Cal makes this trade because: They need help on the interior. Badly. Losing Mathews is not exactly ideal, but with Jabari Bird on the perimeter as well, they have the depth to be able to make a change. The Bears are not as far out of the bubble picture as you might think, and adding this piece for the stretch run could be the difference.

2. Ohio State’s Kam Williams for Texas’ Prince Ibeh

OSU makes this trade because: Ibeh is as big, as physical and as athletic as any front court player in the country. He can block shots, he can run the floor and he can go blow-for-blow in the post with anyone. Texas can spare him because he plays essentially the same role as Cameron Ridley, who is worlds better offensively, but Ohio State would make use of him as the shot-blocking presence that allows them to extend their defense.

Texas makes this trade because: One of the issues for Texas this season is that they have too many big bodies and not enough scoring pop in their back court. Williams is a streaky shooter, but he’s a guy with a reputation for being a big-time scorer that can provide scoring pop off the bench or from a starting role.

AP Photo

3. Washington’s Nigel Williams-Goss for Louisville’s Shaqquan Aaron

Washington makes this trade because: This season is a bust for Washington, who watched as their chances to make the NCAA tournament disappeared when Robert Upshaw got the boot. They need to start over, and what better was to do that than by bringing in a former top 30 recruit from Seattle. Aaron was lambasted by Pitino after the loss to Syracuse on Wednesday, meaning he may be out the door already. Why not try and get something in return?

Louisville makes this trade because: The biggest issue for Louisville this season? They don’t have a lead guard on their roster that makes everyone else better. Terry Rozier is extremely talented, but he’s a scorer first, second and third. Chris Jones is an elite defender, but he’s a gunner that wants to be Russ Smith. Nigel Williams-Goss is not an ideal fit defensively for Rick Pitino, but he’s one of the nation’s most underrated point guards, a guy that will get easy shots for some of his new, offensively-challenged teammates.

4. BYU’s Skyler Halford for San Diego State’s Angelo Chol

BYU makes this trade because: The Cougars need some physicality in the paint, and Chol will provide that. He’s not really a low-post scoring threat, but he blocks shots, he rebounds, he plays hard and he’ll provide a big, physical body in the paint to help deal with guys like Brad Waldow and Gonzaga’s front line. He can be to BYU what Jameel McKay is to Iowa State.

SDSU makes this trade because: The Aztecs cannot score. They lack elite shooting and they don’t have enough playmakers on their roster to help breakdown a defense. Halford is a knock-down jump shooter and a better creator than he gets credit for, and he’s an expendable piece for the Cougars given how many talented perimeter players are on that roster.

5. Syracuse’s Rakeem Christmas for Kansas’ Svi Mykhailiuk

Syracuse makes this trade because: The Orange literally are not playing for anything this season beyond pride, thanks to the ludicrous decision that the school made to self-impose a postseason ban for this year. That means that Christmas, a senior having an all-american caliber season, is a valuable piece. Mykhailiuk is a freshman, but he’s only 17 years old. He’s long, he’s athletic and he can shoot, meaning he’ll fit in the Orange zone, and he needs at least one, maybe two more years in college before he’s ready to go pro.

Kansas makes this trade because: The one thing the Jayhawks are missing this season is a true low-post scoring threat, and that’s precisely what Christmas is. He’d take the pressure off of their perimeter players, and while giving up Mykhailiuk means giving up a terrific prospect, it would make Kansas a real national title contender versus being a streaky shooting team with a shot at the Final Four.

6. Indiana’s Stanford Robinson for Louisiana’s Shawn Long

Indiana makes this trade because: Indiana has been forced to play small-ball this season because of their lack of size in the paint. They spread the floor, they jack up threes and they are as entertaining as any team in the country when those threes are going down. But they’re also the worst power conference team on the defensive end of the floor, and Long should help that. He’s a 6-foot-9 shot-blocker that can score on the block and has three-point range.

Louisiana makes this trade because: Losing Long hurts, but adding Robinson might end up being more valuable. Remember, this is the program that turned Elfrid Payton into a lottery pick, and while Robinson is a different player than Payton, the former top 30 recruit can still be a dynamic slasher from the wing. He’s fallen out of favor at Indiana, averaging just 11 minutes.

Entering halftime, Tyrone Wallace was 2-of-13 from the field, as a team Cal was shooting 32 percent while its defense allowed No. 21 Washington to convert of 54 percent of its attempts. Given all that, the Golden Bears should have considered themselves lucky to only trail by five.

In the second half, the shots still didn’t fall for Wallace, though, they didn’t have to. Jordan Mathews and David Kravish carried the load offensive, combining for 52 points — 34 of which came after halftime — as Cal kicked off Pac-12 play with an 81-75 win over the ranked Huskies.

Mathews was one-point shy of matching his career-high of 32 points. Kravish set his own career best with 21. Although Wallace was his season-worst 4-for-20 from the field, he still managed to finish with 19 points, doing the bulk of his damage from the line, hitting 10 free throws with under three minutes to play.

Nigel Williams-Goss had 19 points, eight rebounds and nine assist for the Huskies, followed by Robert Upshaw with 16 points and eight boards.

The Golden Bears shot 61 percent from the field in the second half, and for the night only coughed up the ball four times. The Huskies committed 13 turnovers, which Cal took advantage, turning those miscues into 15 points. In Washington’s upset loss to Stony Brook at home on Sunday, the Seawolves created 19 points off 12 turnovers to help erase a double-digit deficit.

Another area where Cal took advantage of was on the glass. Despite being outrebounded 33-21, the Golden Bears turned eight offensive rebounds in 13 second-chance boards.

If you’re Cuonzo Martin, you have to feel encouraged after your first Pac-12 game. Wallace had a terrible night shooting the ball, but still contributed offensively, Cal’s second-best scorer, Jabari Bird, is still sidelined and the Golden Bears were still able to get a win over a ranked opponent.

Washington, however, has a short turnaround before another challenging, conference road game. The Huskies are at Stanford on Sunday night.

Before I get started on this, I want to make one note that I’m sure no one is going to pay attention to: We tried to build these teams into something similar to what you could actually put on a basketball court. Two guards, a wing, a couple big men, whatever.

The reason?

For starters, I’ve always thought that should be the way that it’s not. It’s the “All-American Team”, not the “All-American List”. Secondly, if all you want is a list, we do weekly Player of the Year Power Rankings.

Jerian Grant, Notre Dame: We can debate all we want about what position Jerian Grant is — for what it’s worth, I will always refer to him as a lead guard — but the bottom line is this: there is no back court player in the country has played better than Grant over the course of the last month. He’s averaging 18.2 points and 6.3 assists (along with just 1.3 turnovers) for an 11-1 team. Notre Dame’s schedule has been awful, I know, but I don’t think Grant’s numbers are a product of that.

Delon Wright, Utah: The Utes are 3-1 in their last four games, beating Wichita State, BYU and UNLV, the latter two on the road. The only loss? By three, at Kansas in Kansas City. In those four games? Wright is averaging 17.8 points, 6.0 boards, 4.3 assists and 2.8 steals while playing 39.8 minutes. He’s the most indispensable player in the country.

Georges Niang, Iowa State: Niang is the centerpiece of one of the nation’s most high-octane offenses. A power forward by trade, Niang has turned into one of the nations most skilled passers, averaging 4.2 assists. It’s a luxury for Fred Hoiberg to have Niang on the roster when his point guard, Monte’ Morris, is one of the best in the country.

Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin: It feels like we haven’t heard from Frank Kaminsky in forever, doesn’t it? Well, that’s what happens when Wisconsin goes 18 days between meaningful games. Trust me when I tell you that The Tank hasn’t gone anywhere. He’s still averaging 16.0 points and 7.6 boards for the No. 6 team in the country.

Jahlil Okafor, Duke: The Player of the Year to date this season, and he proved it last week. Against an Elon team that was considerably overmatched in the paint against him, Okafor went for 25 points and 20 boards as the Blue Devils struggled to beat the Phoenix. Three days later, when Duke tripped up to New Jersey to take on UConn, Okafor finished with just 12 points and 10 boards, but he facilitated everything offensively, allowing Duke to work through him and take advantage of mismatches when the Huskies sold out defensively to double-team him. He also fouled Amida Brimah out in 13 minutes. Dominance.

Ron Baker, Wichita State: No one is replacing Cleanthony Early for Wichita State, but Baker is trying his best, as he’s become a more aggressive, well-rounded scorer this year.

Justin Anderson, Virginia: Anderson is a perfect fit for Virginia, a three-and-D wing that is shooting 60.0 percent from three, plays terrific defense and gets to the offensive glass.

Montrezl Harrell, Louisville: The leading scorer, leading rebounder and most versatile defender on a top three defense that struggles to score. Now only if he stopped punching people …

Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky: The Wildcats are going to go as far as their defense takes them, and Cauley-Stein is the engine that makes their defense run.

NBC SPORTS MIDSEASON ALL-AMERICAN THIRD TEAM

Nigel Williams-Goss, Washington: Williams-Goss is the engine for Washington, which may be the nation’s most surprising team. The irony: He may not even be their most valuable player. Robert Upshaw is.

D’angelo Russell, Ohio State: Russell was the last to make this list. His numbers are absurd, but OSU’s schedule has been awful and Russell is 10-for-37 from the floor and 3-for-16 from three against North Carolina and Louisville.

D’angelo Harrison, St. John’s: Harrison is having the best season of his career, averaging 19.8 points and 6.6 boards. He’s not a great decision-maker, but he’s as competitive as anyone and has sparked a number of St. John’s comebacks this season.

Stanley Johnson, Arizona: The leading scorer and biggest perimeter threat for an Arizona team ranked No. 3 in the country.

Jonathan Holmes, Texas: Holmes is the leading scorer for a Texas team that has a chance to be the first team to knock Kansas off the top of the Big 12.